We often roast whole chickens or pork loin for a quick and easy meal, and inevitably, we throw in some potatoes and other ingredients into the same pan for a minimum of fuss and easy clean up. This is just one variation of what lies under a typical pork loin in our household… I separated this post from the main post on the pork because I found the photos intriguing… again, some of them taken by the Teen. I rarely make these mixes with a recipe on hand. I look at what we have in stock and chop them up and mix in proportions that suit our supplies or taste… For this “bed” of goodies, I chopped up a few white onions, added new potatoes, chopped up several bulbs of locally grown (and smaller) fennel, added three whole bulbs of garlic with the tops sliced off, lots of fresh thyme, chopped fennel fronds (that look a bit like dill), olive oil, salt and pepper…

Toss this mixture gently and place it on in a roasting pan. Add a rack into the pan and place the meat on top of the rack. As the meat roasts, the vegetables underneath catch all the drippings and juices from the meat. If your meat will take more than 40 minutes or so to cook, start the meat ahead and add the potatoes, etc. into the pan about 30-40 minutes before you expect to finish roasting the meat. Don’t scrimp on the olive oil or your veggies may dry out a little. If you would like, add 1/4 cup of chicken stock to the pan to prevent very dry roasted vegetables, but I often don’t bother with this step at all. I like the veggies caramelized and soft and sweet… a perfect match for whatever meat you have roasted. As for the roasted garlic, just squeeze the bulb gently and you should have a soft, mellowed out but still intensely flavored garlic paste, delicious on some toasted french bread or spread out on the potatoes! Next up, the roast itself!

After 15 more minutes, I put the small Yukon gold potatoes on a baking sheet, tossed w rosemary sprigs, S & P & more garlic & EVOO into the bottom rack below the roast.

Roasted everything for 30 more minutes, basting the chicken w the drippings after 15 min & stirring the mushrooms & the potatoes.

Check the temperature of the chicken (175 deg F at the thickest part of the thigh) for doneness; because trussing sometimes keeps the leg & the part of the chicken from cooking properly.

Delish!

Apr 16, 2009 | 8:21 am

dragon
says:

Hi MM,

Nothing to do with the food post but I felt like adding my 2 cents worth vis-a-vis your poll on capital punishment. I voted for death punishment, only because the (supposed) “crime” involved death. I wholeheartedly go for “an eye for an eye”. I am more for maximum punishment where children are victims: the more savage the crime against children, then the perp should be meted the same.

No, I am not a lawyer but my dad & sister are and we were always animatedly involved in discussions around the dining table (and out of), being able to express our feelings, thoughts & views. My dad, as kooky as he can be, provides the legal viewpoint/repercussions which then put us in a more cerebral, less emotional approach.

tricia, yes, I do, or at Rustan’s Rockwell. Bong, you can never have too much garlic… :) Actually, I like it in moderation, but others can consume tons of it. Dragon, sounds like we had similar dinnertime conversations in our home. My dad was a lawyer and so was my grandfather before him. And I do favor capital punishment for heinous crimes… AND FAIRLY APPLIED to rich or poor, connected or not. Vicky that sounds wonderful… I love all sorts of variations of roasted chicken! mrs lavendula this is VERY easy to do… :)

Apr 16, 2009 | 11:41 am

lyna
says:

I also do this for my roasts and don’t even bother about putting a rack. I just let the meat sit on the bed of herbs/veggies. One time, i did not have anything except huge white onions. I just sliced it thick and let the chicken sit on the onion slices. The drippings tasted very good with the caramelized onions and especially after I added extra butter!

Apr 16, 2009 | 2:43 pm

isabella
says:

MM,

Can I know where you bought your pork loin?They seemed to be big and fresh.
I will appreciate much if you’ll divulge the source of yopur pork loin.

t2rad, I got the fresh fennel at the salcedo saturday market. It seems a couple of growers are raising the vegetable in the Mt. Province and if you search carefully, you can find it as say PHP250-300 a kilo. Alternatively, they sometimes have imported fennel at S&R at roughly PHP350 a piece. These are the large fat western bulbs while the local ones are smaller. isabella, I got the pork at Metro Market!Market! I think.